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May 16, 2012

G37: Rays 2, Red Sox 1

Tampa Bay scored its two runs on a balk by Clay Buchholz (5-6-2-1-5, 87) and a sacrifice fly to shallow right that Cody Ross lost in the ceiling and nearly overran. Boston could do very little with Hellickson (6-5-1-2-6, 104) and a trio of relievers, and saw its five-game winning streak come to an end.

In the bottom of the second, Carlos Pena singled and took second when Buchholz hit Luke Scott in the right foot with a pitch. Sean Rodriguez grounded into a double play and Pena went to third. After Will Rhymes walked, Buchholz balked with Jose Molina at the plate.

Buchholz:

The balk, in my head, I was going to go third to first, I came up and my back cleat sort of got caught, and I tried to spin around and throw to first. ... That clay out there, it sort of sticks, and if you don't pick your foot completely out of the clay, your cleats are stuck down in there.

Boston tied the game at 1-1 when Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled with two outs in the fourth and scored on Daniel Nava's single.

Buchholz ran into trouble in the sixth, allowing singles to the first two batters. With runners at first and third, Andrew Miller came in from the bullpen. Scott popped a 2-0 pitch to short right. Ross came in, but seemed to lose sight of the ball; he nearly overran it and when he reached back to catch it, Matt Joyce took off from third. Ross had to turn all the way around to make a throw, but it was too late.

Joyce:

I wasn't really planning on going until I saw Cody Ross kind of backpedal. The Trop can be tough sometimes for outfielders and infielders the same. It's hard to see the ball when you're not used to it. He started backpedaling, and as an outfielder, I know it's hard to get a lot on your throw and make a really good throw when you're on the heels of your feet.

Ross:

I was playing pretty deep and went in and gave Dustin a look, and when I looked back up, I lost it a little bit and gathered it and then tried to break my stride down and kind of tripped over myself and had to reach back and grab it. Just a lot of stuff going on on that play. It was awful.

Trailing by a run, Mike Aviles singled with one out in the seventh, but pinch-hitter Mauro Gomez grounded the first pitch he saw into an inning-ending double play. The strongest part of the order - Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez - went in order in the eighth. In the ninth, facing Fernando Rodney, Ross singled with two outs, but Nava grounded out to second.

Red Sox pitchers were called for three balks in the game (Buchholz, Matt Albers, Franklin Morales).

Is it fair to point out that Cody Ross kinda f*cked us with his shitty defense last night, or is that not OK because it has been determined that he has "grit"? His reads on balls hit to the OF have been spotty all year. He'd be a nice hitter off the bench or a platoon guy but having him out in the OF constantly is worrisome to me.

I have not noticed that with Ross - he seems adequate to fine, and anyone can lose a ball in all that shit on the Trop's ceiling - though I have seen it with Byrd's wrong-way breaks and less than straight routes.